Anniversary Encore
by Ice Cream Kari
Summary: Five years have passed since the death game Sword Art Online began, the scars of the game still live on within many, but others have chosen to move on. As an anniversary challenge, the New Aincrad system came up with a series of Follow Kirito, Asuna, the rest, and our OCs as they fight through the Collab with Angel's Two Wolves
1. Chapter 1

**Kari: Hey guys, Kari here! So this story is going to be posted on my account since apparently Angel's account has too many story dumps. We'll be rotating writers for each chapter and point of views as well. This first chapter is by me, it's in Kirito POV. There will be some other character views popping in from time to time but overall, I hope you guys will like it! **

**Angel: Hey everyone! Angel here! Kari-chan and I decided to work together on this SAO fic! Hope it'll be twice as awesome! I'm currently having issues with fanfiction right now with linking my profile and my username. I'll link it later when fanfiction doesn't hate me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own SAO, although we wish we do. **

**We only own:**

**Kari- Hikari Waterjewel/Kari and any family members**

**Angel: Asuka Kato/Angel and her family**

**animeorange94 (our friend):** **Aphrodite**

**Lfyre (yet another friend): Lfyre**

**Both- Katashi and ****Kenshin**

It is now the year of 2027, five years since the beginning of the virtual game «Sword Art Online», dubbed «SAO» for short. Things have changed since then; the World Seed has ultimately saved the dying world of VRMMORPG from disappearing. The scars of being trapped in the world of «SAO» still live on in the hearts of many but some people have chosen to accept the incidents for what they are.

The game «SAO» does hold good memories for others though, one being Kirigaya Kazuto, or better yet known as Kirito, the player to beat «SAO» and release everyone from the death game. He's found the love of his life in the game and made good friends that he would cherish for a life-time. «SAO» would forever be a part of him from now on, for the better or for the worse.

**-Kirito POV-**

"Switch!" Asuna yelled as she quickly jumped away from the towering 10 foot tall boss we were fighting. The monstrous figure was in the shape of a majestic bird with pure black feathers and a razor sharp beak; its claws were as sharp as daggers as we managed to secure it to the ground. «Merle», the name of the boss to «floor 87», was struggling against the binds as I quickly took my position in front of it.

I hacked and slashed at the bird with my blade; it shrieked in agony and blindly kicked out its feet to try and grab a hold of something. I nimbly dodged it and continued to attack it. I was growing tired fast, I quickly glanced up at the HP bar hovering above «Merle»'s head. There was still one more bar left. "Switch, Asuna!" I yelled and quickly retreated as Asuna took my place. The others around us were doing variations of the same thing, slashing and hitting the bird to reduce its HP. I watched as the final HP bar slowly creep into the red zone. This was it. Suddenly, «Merle» shrieked in pain and broke the bindings around its wings.

Glancing around at the rest of my guild, I knew we were done for because we were all exhausted. Suddenly a flash of light appeared from behind the bird. Then another and a red X appeared across the bird's body. "«Embellished Light»!" two voices yelled simultaneously and «Merle» shrieked in agony. Two girls summersaulted off the bird's back and landed on the ground, sword in hand. I watched as the HP bar slowly dropped to 0 and «Merle» disappeared into sparkling diamonds. The congratulations message flashed in its place. The others all sighed in relief and collapsed onto the ground – clearly exhausted.

The two girls sheathed their swords. A screen flashed in front of one of them. The girl had long dark blue-black hair and sea-green eyes, wearing a white mini jacket, arm-length black gloves, a blue skirt and lace-up boots. The girl quickly scanned over the message and closed it proceeding to open up her inventory. She scrolled across a few lines before pressing on an item - a blue flask materialized in her hand. There was an engraving of flowers and vines on the outside and a cork stopper at the top. The other girl had long black hair tied up into a high ponytail with a silver ribbon and deep chocolate eyes. She was wearing black shirt with long sleeves with gloves attached to the sleeves, a white skirt, black leggings and black boots. A long silver scarf billowed out around her as she walked over to the other girl. "We won't have any use for this," she muttered and the other girl smiled.

"Wasn't planning on keeping it anyways, Angel-chan," she said with a smirk. She proceeded to throw the flask in my direction, "Catch."

I caught the flask in my hand. I double tapped the flask and pulled up the item information. "«Revival Medicine». Good for use on any one player, beast, or item."

"Wait, you can revive an item?" Asuna asked intrigued. She walked over to have a look, "As in, if your sword breaks you can fix it?"

"I guess," I said half-heartedly before looking suspiciously over at the two girls, "This is a nice boss drop, why don't you want to keep it?"

The girl with the ponytail, Angel, shrugged, "Your guild deserves it. You guys took down that monster; all we did was the finishing move." I studied the girl as she said it, her brown eyes un-wavering. She was serious.

"Angel-chan, we should probably leave." said the other girl, "We should start exploring the next floor before it gets too late. We'll have to log out soon for the night."

Angel sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right Kari-chan. All the others already logged out an hour ago." The two turned around and walked away, disappearing through the doors to the next floor.

I turned around and faced the others who had watched the whole exchange. "Why don't we go check out the floor a little? Afterwards we'll go to «floor 50» for a celebration!" Everyone cheered in unison as we walked through to the gates that led to the breath-taking scenery of «floor 88».

* * *

Everyone was laughing and talking excitedly as we walked through the streets of «Algade». The nighttime lights lighting up the narrow streets crowded with players. The shop windows blazed with different brightly colored displays.

"Who were those two girls from before? I know Angel-san, but the other girl doesn't really ring any bells." I asked turning to face Asuna and Leafa. Asuna was an «Undine»; she had long blue hair partially braided back into a ponytail and sparkling blue eyes. She was basically wearing a blue version of her original «SAO» avatar's clothes, consisting of gloves, a skirt and a cape. Leafa was a «Sylph»; she had long blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail and her hair braided in the front with emerald green eyes. She wore a puffy green sleeved outfit and pants underneath with brown boots. The two looked at me, exchanged a quick look, and immediately burst out laughing like it was the funniest question in the world. I guess that means I asked a stupid question again.

"Kirito-kun, those two girls are from the famous guild «Resurrection's Blade». They're one of the lead guilds, aside from Klein's and ours. The girl who threw you the flask was Kari-san, an «SAO» survivor and is the guild's commander. I believe she was also a part of the «Knights of the Blood» for a short time before leaving the guild. In «ALO», she's an «Undine» and uses her sword «Aquarius», one of the most powerful and rarest of swords. You can only equip the sword if you're an «Undine» and can channel water magic. One of her most famous moves is «Aqua Regime»." Asuna said matter of factly; she turned to look at Leafa like they had planned this whole explanation out.

Leafa continued where Asuna left off, "Anyways, the other girl is called Angel-san. I believe you know her according to Asuna-san. She's also an «SAO» survivor and is the guild's vice-commander. I heard that in «SAO», she was a high-ranking member of «Knights of the Blood». Angel-san's a «Spriggan» and is a semi-dual wielder. She uses her main sword «Hades», a powerful sword that can only be crafted after getting the materials from a limited time quest. There was only one sword crafted in the end – Angel-san's. She has another dagger strapped to her arm which she uses occasionally named «Ceberus», giving her the edge in a battle with dual-wielding. One of her most famous moves is «Illusionist's Curse»."

"Their guild currently has six members, a pretty small guild in comparison to some of the bigger guilds but they can really pack a punch. The six members include Kari-san, Angel-san, Aphrodite-san, Lfyre-san, Kuroshi-san and Kenshin-san. They're all friends in real life, though not all of them are «SAO» survivors. Interesting stuff, eh?"

"Since when do you guys do guild research?" I asked sarcastically at Agil. We had reached the end of the city streets and were out at the fields. We continued walking down the path though with the relaxing fall breeze blowing through the air.

Before any of them could answer, I felt a cold chill run down my back and I shuddered. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed anything unusual. Nothing.

Suddenly, I felt the world shifting around me and in a blink I was surrounded by grassy meadows and flower gardens. In the distance were majestic snowcapped mountain peaks. I recognized the beautiful landscape as «floor 88», the floor we had just explored a little more than an hour earlier. Everyone else from my guild was here too; they had all apparently been in the forced teleport. Klein's guild was with us also, but that seemed to be it. Memories of my first official day in «SAO» started flashing through my mind. The forced teleport, all the players gathered in the square, and the announcement of the beginning of the death game. I instinctively looked up for some red error message like what happened during the first day. What was going on here?

**Kari: I hope you guys liked the prologue! Just in case anyone's wondering, if you read my first story carefully, you'll know my OC Hikari is a dimensional traveler, thus making it possible to dump her in practically every story I write. Please Review! Any reviews directed towards Angel will get a reply from me, but the message will be from Angel. Thanks everyone!**

**Angel: Thank you so much for reading! Wow, Kari and I sent this chapter back and forth so many times to check for grammar I nearly kicked myself for not noticing some of the mistakes. If you guys have ever read Ebony Angel from my FictionPress account, don't confuse Asuko Kato with this OC, Asuka Kato. They're two different people; I just strangely favor the last name Kato. Please review! Arigato!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Kari: Hey Everyone! Chapter one's finally up! This chapter is going to be written by Angel in Asuka's POV. Hope you guys all like it!**

**Angel: Ohayo/Konnichiwa/Konbanwa minna-san! Angel desu! This chapter is written by me. You could easily tell because Kari-chan's writing style is really different. Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh, yeah, apparently, the site hates my username, and I've plainly given up on that. Please visit my profile sometime, though! Visit my profile by replacing the id number at the end of a profile address with mine - u/5067930/**

**Disclaimer: We do not own SAO. We only own our own various characters.**

**-Asuka POV-**

"What's going on?" I asked, trying, and of course, failing, to remain calm.

"I dunno," Kari replied. "That was a forced teleport just now, wasn't it?"

"I think it was," I answered, scanning our surroundings. We were clearly still on the «floor 88». Dense «forests» surrounded us with the occasional splatter of empty space like the one we stood in. Rumors had said that the floor was heavily modeled after the Vermont region during fall foliage. They were correct. Red and orange «leaves danced across the space, carried by the pleasant «breeze».Various «birds» soared above us in the late evening «sky» and lofty white clouds floated around.

"Well isn't this «SAO» all over again? This day just gets better and better." I heard Kari mutter to herself.

I shifted my hand so it was in front of me so I could open the menu to check for an explanation. "Oh, look, there's an announcement!"

"Welcome to the «Fifth Anniversary Challenge Series»! Tonight is the first of five rounds. It's been five years since the game «Sword Art Online» was released, and in honor of that, we thought up a little challenge.

Everyone has been teleported to a random floor you have been on before. On each floor, there are at least three guilds and several special boss monsters. Your goal is to defeat these monsters.

If you wish to opt out of this challenge, please log out immediately. You will not be able to log back in until the first challenge is over. Other players within the guild will also not be able to log in when their guild is in the middle of a challenge. Invitations will continue to be sent out every time a new challenge is designed.

For those participating in the challenge, the rules are simple and are as follows:

1) You cannot log out until all of the monsters on your floor are defeated.

2) «Teleport Crystals» do not work.

3) «Player Killing» will result in an automatic logoff and an indefinite suspension of your account. You will not be able to create another account during that time-span.

We assure you that this is not a death game like the original «Sword Art Online».

Please have fun!

«Management» "

"Well, what do you think, Angel-chan? Up for a little challenge?" Kari asked glancing over at me. She was clearly excited, despite her previous comment about the day getting worse and worse.

"You bet!" I was equally as psyched as her, maybe even more. Despite it being a death game again to some extent, I missed the thrill of fighting for your life in a virtual game. I'm strange in that way. Maybe it's because of being a key member in the «Knights of the Blood Oath». It had made me feel more important than I'll ever be in real life.

The two of us simultaneously hit the «accept» at the bottom of the announcement. The moment our fingers touched the screen, we were teleported once again.

"Eh? Angel-san?! Kari-san?!" I heard a familiar voice ask when the darkness faded. It was another clear patch of short grasses on the «88th floor». I turned around to see where the voice was coming from.

"Oh, Asuna-chan! Kirito-san!" I replied. "Everyone's here!"

"You guys are doing the challenge too?" Kari asked. She looked around at the group of avatars gathered at the teleport point. "Funny how it's all «SAO» survivors, except Leafa-san and Sinonon-chii." Like the others, Kari and I both called the «Cait Sith» by her nickname, Sinonon.

"Yeah. For old time's sake," said Klein with a laugh.

"And I've always wanted to see what nii-chan and Asuna-san had to go through back then," Leafa added.

"Agreed!" Sinon chimed, her cat's tail twitching behind her.

"Maybe we should start hunting the monsters on this floor," I suggested.

"Yeah. This is «floor 88», right? The one we just unlocked?" Kirito asked.

"That's right. It's the floor with the «unicorn monsters»," I replied. "According to the information provided anyway." Upon hearing «unicorn monsters», Kari launched into a giggling fit.

"Let's go you guys, I'm getting tired," a girl a year older than Kari and I yawned, gently stroking the tail of the dragon sitting on her head. The seventeen year old former beast tamer slumped forward tiredly.

"Sure. The faster we clear this challenge, the better. Remember that time when we didn't log out until past midnight? Kuroshi-kun fell asleep in class and sensei had to wake him up with a meter stick!" I recalled. Katashi Kurosawa, or Kuroshi in this world, was my best friend both in game and in RL. He was also part of «Resurrection's Blade» and a «SAO» survivor.

"Okay then," Kari said, suppressing a chuckle. Kari didn't go to «SAO School» like the rest of us did, even though she was a «survivor». She knew Katashi in real life though from back when we all attended the same elementary school.

Semi-transparent wings materialized and a little navigation pixie appeared, peeking out of the front of Kirito's shirt. "Yui, I need you to find the nearest herd of «unicorns» okay?" Kirito asked kindly.

"Okay, Papa! They're really close by. A kilometer to the north of here," Yui responded sweetly. We followed her instructions and soon found ourselves face to face with a huge «herd» of about twenty, each with two «HP Gauges».

"Whoa, since when did unicorns have bladed horns?" I asked while I landed, surprised by the sharp metallic object sticking out of the top of the black unicorn's head.

"When Charles Darwin started being incorrect," someone from Klein's guild deadpanned. I shot an annoyed look at the man, who backed away, afraid that I would use «Assassin's Blade», my other special technique, regardless of the« no PK-ing rule».

The same black unicorn turned to face us, clearly noticing the presence of twenty some fairies. It charged toward us, head bowed, the blade directly pointing at me.

Quickly summoning «Hades» and «Ceberus», I tried to block the blade. Expecting the unicorn to make contact in 1.8 seconds, I braced myself, but the unicorn was faster than expected. As if by warping time and space, which it probably did, the black creature made contact with «Ceberus» faster than I anticipated. Not ready for the blow, I topple backwards, and I find a pool of blood gathering around me.

Blood? How? What's going on? Is it a glitch? Or was «blood flow» part of the patch that was released yesterday? I didn't like not knowing what was going on.

**Angel: I'm great at cliffhangers. If you read any of my chaptered stories, you'd know. Oh, and sorry for all of the technical errors, just doesn't like me… Please review! Arigato gozaimasu!**

**Kari: Hope you guys loved the brilliant cliff-hanger Angel left you with. Anyways, please review! Thanks everyone!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Kari: Hey everyone! Chapter 3 is finally up! I'm really sorry it took so long to update for Chapter 3, it was my turn to write a chapter and I've been really busy lately. Anyways, this chapter is written in my OC Hikari's (Kari's) POV. Hope you guys like it!**

**Angel: Hey everyone! Angel's here! I've posted a side story for Anniversary Encore on my profile. It's called Angel's Tears and covers Asuka's backstory. Please check it out!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own SAO. We only own our own various characters. Refer to Chapter 1 for all the detailed ownerships.**

**-Hikari POV-**

I scanned the field of «Unicorn Monsters» and immediately regretted laughing about them earlier. They were not any monsters I would've liked to meet in a dark alley. They had shimmering black coats and sharp metallic horns that looked like they could easily slice a «3S3D» sword, like many of ours, in half. I unsheathed my sword, «Aquarius», and faced the unicorns. Everyone else took out their respectful weapons. "Be careful everyone! Try not to get killed while you're at it too," commented someone from Klein's guild. Everyone nodded grimly in agreement.

Angel had charged a black unicorn nearest to us; I decided to go for one to the left of it. «Aquarius» quickly made contact with the horn of the unicorn; sparks flew between the two blades before I leaped away. The «unicorn» I was facing grunted in response as if to acknowledge my blade, before its horn started to glow and it charged straight towards me. "«Radiant Star»!" I yelled, activating my sword skill. I swung at the blade at the «unicorn» but as I did, time seemed to slow down. The unicorn's blade then clashed with my blade, before time seemed to become normal again. I stumbled backwards a little by the impact before finding my footing again. Gritting my teeth, I slashed at the unicorn's blade. The horn broke off and the «unicorn» dissolved into sparkling diamonds. I ignored the congratulations message that appeared and surveyed the scene.

We were winning, if that meant anything, but there were pools of red stuff everywhere. Then, I realized that that pile of icky red stuff was blood. Since when did we bleed in virtual games? Kirito's guild was currently a war machine, Klein's guild was managing okay, but where was Angel? I spotted her a couple yards away from me lying on the ground, a huge puddle of blood next to her. My heart seemed to stop when I saw the injured state my friend was in, and in an instant, I was quickly making my way through the unicorns. I pulverized them as I went and knelt down next to Angel. "Are you okay Angel-chan?" I asked half-heartedly, even though I knew she clearly wasn't. She knew I wasn't really asking her the question, and wisely chose not to respond. Her whole shirt sleeve was soaked in blood; I couldn't pin-point where the real wound was. "Does it hurt?"

Angel grimaced, "Yeah, can you heal it? That unicorn's blade is as sharp as a dagger." I laughed half-heartedly at her joke.

I looked up at her and realized that her «HP Gauge» was entering the end of the yellow zone. She wasn't just losing blood, but she was also losing HP. This was bad; I really was starting to have my doubts about the good intentions of the «Anniversary Challenge». I pretended not to have noticed and nodded, "Seah Rairra Heiraguru Ahstor, Brott Subaar Baani!" I held out my hand and blue lines of script appeared around it. Clear blue drops of water poured down around us and, it washed away the blood on Asuka's arm, simultaneously healing the wound.

Angel smiled in relief, "Thanks Kari-chan." Her «HP» was now stable, though I was still feeling uneasy as I helped her up to her feet. The others were fighting off the last few unicorns; suddenly, I spun around just as a unicorn started to charge at us. In an instant, I held up «Aquarius» to block the attack, but I was too late. I was thrown backwards by the force of its assault, my arm started to throb when I got up, but I ignored it. I ran and slashed my blade through the unicorn; it then disintegrated into sparkling diamonds.

"Angel-san! Kari-san! Are you okay?" asked Kirito running over with the others. Everyone was covered in blood one place or another, but overall they looked fine.

"What's going on?" I asked looking around the group, "What's with all the blood?"

Everyone looked around and as if for the first time seemed to notice they were all covered in a sticky red substance. "Do you think its yesterday's new patch update?" asked Asuna.

Kirito shook his head in concern, "No, I doubt it. That'd be too bold of a risk to take considering all the game incidents that have happened with SAO and ALO."

"Ouch, these cuts actually hurt," muttered someone from Klein's guild.

"Yeah, and they bleed to no end!" exclaimed an irritated Leafa.

"But most of all, the blood loss eats away at your HP if the wound is still bleeding. Take a look at your HP bar," I said, looking around. Everyone gasped as they took a good look at their HP bar. I glanced at mine too; my HP had just reached the beginning of the yellow zone. As if by some unknown agreement, we all simultaneously took out a mana potion to recharge our mana points and chugged it down before casting various spells to heal each other.

"Everyone, if the game developers didn't do this, then who did?" Sinon asked looking around in concern. "What if it's a hacker? Or maybe even a player that's trying to sabotage the game?"

"That's the least of our worries," Angel cut in, "What I'm wondering is if this will affect us in real life. I know we couldn't have actually bled in real life, but what if it has some other kind of side-effect on us in the real world?"

"Angel-san brings up a good point. We're currently trapped in here because of the «anniversary challenge», which for some crazy reason, we all voluntarily accepted. We have no idea what is happening to us in the real world right now, and we don't know how long it will take us to clear this challenge. It may take up to a month considering how long it usually takes us to clear a boss," Agil agreed. Everyone was starting to look worried, despite the announcement saying this wasn't a death game; being trapped in here was still a big issue.

"We wouldn't be able to go after the special boss now, could we?" asked a hopeful pigtailed Cait Sith named Silica, "I mean, the sooner we find it and beat it, the sooner we can leave, right?"

Asuka shook her head, "That won't work. In the state we're in after battling some field monsters, it'd be suicide to go after the boss. Plus, this blood problem is really starting to bug me." I could tell she was worried about being trapped in the game. Whenever she dived, she ran the risk of one of her cruel family members removing her NervGear. Who knew what that would do during the «challenge»?

"How about we build camp for the night then?" Kirito asked. He swiped downward with his hand and the menu popped up, "It's already past midnight, and we can't log out for the night. We might as well rest and build up our strength. We can explore the floor some more tomorrow."

"Should we make camp out here?" asked Lisbeth gazing out at the beautiful landscape. Night had long since fallen and there was a gentle night breeze blowing through the fields. The full moon cast a soft white light over us from its spot in the star-studded night sky.

I tapped the face of my watch and a screen appeared in front of me. I started scrolling through the information on the floor and gulped, "No, not out here."

"Why not?" Asuka asked peering over my shoulder at the screen, and then she gulped too.

"Well, for a start, apparently this innocent looking landscape is the home to many hidden horrors at night. That includes monsters that are about just as strong as those «Unicorn Monsters» we just faced."

Asuna laughed bitterly, "I'd preferable like it if we at least didn't lose yet another gallon of blood today. Are there any _safer_ places to camp out at then, Kari-san?"

I scanned through the list of information on the screen, "There really isn't any safe zone, and there are no towns of any sort on this floor. Really, the only safest place to camp would be out by the lake, but we'll still have to keep watch tonight. There are still some really high level monsters in that area."

"Let's head for the lake then; I'd like to get at least some sort of sleep tonight." Kirito muttered. We all laughed and started trudging towards the glittering blue lake in the distance.

One thought kept on egging at me as we walked through the field: the idea of there being blood now was going to be a problem. But how big of a problem would it be? And who added this new addition to the game and when? I needed answers, and I needed them soon…

**Kari: Thanks so much for reading everyone! Hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review! Thanks for all of your support everyone!**

**Angel: Didn't kick myself as many times as last time. That's a good thing. Thank you so much for your favorites/follows/reviews! Please continue to support us.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Angel: Hey guys! Angel here! Thank you so much for continuing to support us through reviews, favorites, and follows. Sorry about the late update. Oh, by the way, this chapter was written by me. It's a filler chapter.**

**Kari: Hello everyone! Kari here! Thanks so much for all of your continuous support! We couldn't have made it here without you! I'm really sorry about the late update, you can blame Angel for that. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**-Asuka POV-**

We found a decent place to camp out by the shimmering «lake» by what was around midnight in the real world. The «grass» was short and coarse and the «trees» provided just enough cover but didn't provide so much that we couldn't see the enemy if there was an attack.

As I helped the others pitch «tents», I hoped that no one, unless it was Katsu, had invaded my room yet. If my NervGear was taken off, who knows what would happen? There was that guarantee, but considering the whole «blood flow» thing, not much was really for sure at the moment.

"Angel-chan," Asuna asked as us girls settled down in one of the «tents», "are you okay?"

"Eh?!" I asked. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Asuna-senpai." I still called Asuka "senpai" even though she already graduated from SAO School. I guess old habits die hard.

"Sure?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I easily lied.

"Y'know, if the patch was hacked, I have a twenty group hacker list going in my mind," Kari suddenly spoke up. All of our attention immediately turned to the sixteen year old Undine.

"Kouki and Daisuke are on there, right?" I asked. Kouki and Daisuke are my blood step-brother and step-father, but believe me; I don't want to be related to them.

"Yeah. The whole Fukui Empire. As well as Tsukino and Company, Medusa Enterprises, those kinds of groups," Kari replied, checking off her mental list.

"Tsukino and Company? As in...?" I asked.

"Yep, the one Dad's company tried to track down the other month. The banana farm one." Sinon, Silica, and I snickered at that, but Asuna seemed confused. "Their headquarters were disguised as a banana farm," Kari explained.

I face palmed as the «aroma» of steaming hot pot of whatever stew wafted through the tent walls and to our noses. Us girls quickly scrambled out side where a campfire illuminated the scenic hills around us.

Kirito dished out bowls of soup to each member of the three guilds. Bored to death by the fact we couldn't risk hunting at night, we decided to play the most dangerous game to ever exist in the history of the universe.

Truth or dare.

A part of me died.

"I'll start," Asuna volunteered. "Hmm…Truth or Dare…Angel-chan!"

"Eh?!" I exclaimed, afraid. Now I was forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. Dare meant a possibly embarrassing action. Truth meant a possibly embarrassing fact. I weighed the two options and carefully chose, aware of the diabolical mind Asuna had, thanks to Kirito. "Truth."

"Okay!" Asuna said, pausing to think. I shuddered in anticipation of a truly scary truth question. "Ah! So, Angel-chan! Who do you like?"

"Say wha-?" I asked, mortified.

"Simple. Who do you like?" the auburn hair girl repeated.

"Eh…" I stuttered.

"Oh, come on, Angel-chan! We all know you like someone!" Kari piped in. She knew who he was and could, possibly would, blurt it out.

"Kari-chan!"

"Who is it? It's a truth question; you have to answer," Kirito asked. Him, too? I glanced around at the curious faces of my friends.

"Um, you see," I stuttered again, psyching myself up to the job of admitting the truth. "It's Kuroshi-kun." My cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

"Eh?!" Asuna screamed in surprise. "Kuroshi-kun?! As in Katashi-kohai?" Asuna used to attend «SAO School», the place Kuroshi and I attended now. In real life, Katashi was captain of the soccer club and was very well known among both the upperclassmen and underclassmen.

"Yeah," I mutter under my breath, completely embarrassed. I had known Kuroshi since third grade, and the boy had always been there for me during my worst times, even if during those times, he was suffering more than I was. "Okay, moving on. Eh…truth or dare…Kari-chan!"

"Hey what?" she asked. "Uh, I pass."

"There's no passing in truth or dare," Silica piped. Pina nodded in agreement, and you could see defeat written across Kari's face.

"Alright," she spoke at last, after what must have been long contemplation. "Dare." Kari was a naturally adventurous girl; after knowing her for half my life, I knew that better than a lot of people.

But picking dare may have been a little extreme, because our other friend, Hitsugaya Aiko, had asked a favor from me in exchange for keeping a dark secret that, well, just had to be kept.

"This one is compliments of Aphrodite-chan," I stated, noting a scared expression on the youngest «Undine's» face. "I dare you to confess to Kenshin-kun."

"Wait, wha-?" she asked in surprise.

"Eh, Kari-san," Kirito said, "I think there's something a little more mortifying than a confession now." The older of us two «Spriggans» gestured to an approaching threat. He seemed a bit on edge, and I realized why when I, too, turned to acknowledge the foe that we would later have to face.

They were «ghosts». The one thing a «sword» _doesn't _work on.

«Magic» was needed for this. The one thing I was terrible at. I glanced at Kirito, who shot back a look not too different from mine.

_Damn being a «Spriggan»._

"Don't worry," Silica said, "We've got you covered." She began chanting an incantation I didn't recognize as Asuna gave a nod in our direction indicating that she also had our backs. Kari and the others did the same after Kari recovered from the initial shock of the dare added on to the shock the «ghosts» left. Kirito and I flashed grins at our friends before attempting to figure out a strategy to defeat «ghosts» with «illusion magic».

Naturally, neither the eighteen year old «VRMMORPG» otaku nor I could figure a way out, so we decided it was prime time for us to sit back in the rear of the battlefield, casting «Night Vision» spells on our guildmates and ourselves.

Now, «ghosts» being «ghosts», they could phase through anything and everything, technically. Somehow, a «ghost» wove its way through the barrage of spells Kari and the others were letting loose and snuck up behind the rear guard.

As its hand reached to attack Kari from behind, I never felt so helpless. This was a monster that was about to attack my best friend since elementary school.

Why couldn't I help her now?

The world slowed to a near halt as the «ghost's» «attack spell» approached the back of Kari's head.

"Kari-chan!" I yelled. It was the only pathetic thing I could do.

She turned to face me, and in slow motion, her dark blue-black hair whipped through the air as her body rotated to face the monster that was ambushing her. Her expression turned from quizzical to shock as she noticed the attacker behind her, then slowly to mortified.

**Angel: Naturally, there's a cliffhanger. *laughs* The "banana farm" is a shout out to the guy who inspired Katashi Kurosawa/Kuroshi. For a more detailed explanation of Asuka/Angel's backstory, please read Angel's Tears, which is on my profile. Please continue to support us!**

**Kari: Ahahaha, nice Angel-chan. You went and cliff-hangered it again. If you guys have any complaints on that, feel free to go bother Angel and spam her with PM's. She won't mind. Haha, anyways, if you want to learn more about my OC Hikari's backstory, please go read Water's Light. It will fill in a lot of blanks on Kari's life story. Anyways, thank you guys for all of your continued support! Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Kari: Hey guys! We're finally back with another chapter! This chapter's by me, so I hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks everyone for all of your continued support!**

**Angel: Hey everyone! This one's Kari's chapter, and it's kind of starting to introduce her backstory. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer! We don't own anything except our own characters and the plot. We do not own SAO! For more detailed disclaimers, please refer to chapter 1!**

**-Hikari POV-**

I heard Asuka's warning and in an instant I had whirled around to slash at the ghost with my blade. Normally, a sword would have no effect on a ghost, but my sword «Aquarius» was no ordinary sword. The sword itself was like a magic attack, since I could simultaneously use magic while using the sword. Actually, I have quite a few magic skills that I can only use with the sword, including one of my signature attacks «Riptide's Sovereign».

I was surprised when I didn't feel the impact of the blade against the ghost. It was only then that I realized that the tall figure in front of me was no ghost. No, it wasn't a ghost, but a boy of about 18; he had messy chocolate brown hair and forest green eyes. He was wearing a black overcoat and was about a head taller than me. His hand was holding the point of my sword, which was a mere few inches from his throat. He smiled slyly, "I try not to get killed within the first ten seconds of entering a battle field. Now, sheath your sword my dear." I didn't move my blade and he sighed. He twirled a lock of my hair around his finger with his other hand, "Let's be civilized people and talk this out."

"You're a tad late for that; this is a battle field, not a teahouse. What happened to that ghost that was here a second ago? Also, let go of my hair."

The boy sighed, "Really, you're as cold as they all say, Kari-chan." Just to be annoying, he continued to twirl my hair around his finger. I was about 5 seconds away from summoning a magic attack and just sending him into oblivion. But before that, I needed to know something. The boy in front of me looked oddly familiar, though I couldn't seem to place his face. I just had a lingering feeling that he wasn't to be trusted.

I gritted my teeth, "Don't call me that, I don't even know you."

"Oh really? I would remember seeing those beautiful sea-green eyes of yours from somewhere before. I'm sad you don't remember me. I'm not surprised; we've never met face to face before."

"And this is called meeting 'face to face'? I would have picked a better place to introduce myself,"

"Actually, this is as good as it gets. Really, I'm surprised I haven't devoured you already. Your blood smells simply delicious tonight."

My eyes widened as I saw a red luster in his eyes. His eyes were no longer a dark forest green but the brilliant color of blood. I swallowed hard, "You're a vampire."

The boy smiled exposing the fangs in his mouth, "Yes, I am. Are you scared of me my dear?"

"No, you're just a blood thirsty beast in a freaking game. Now, if you don't mind, why don't you take a nice little trip to oblivion?" «Aquarius» started to glow blue and water started to spiral around the sword. A humongous wave spiraled towards the boy and hit him hard from behind. His two «HP Gauges» immediately dropped into the red zone then slowly crept to zero. "You're not a player, are you? Players only have one «HP Gauge», only monsters or bosses have two or more «HP Gauges»."

The boy smiled, "You finally attacked. I was wondering how much longer you were going to wait. But a magical tidal wave from behind? That was sneaky. I expected just as much from you, Hikari. It's a good thing that this isn't my actual avatar."

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed, but it was too late, he had already dispersed into glittering green diamonds. The area around me seemed to crack like glass, and then I was standing in an empty field. Well, if you call everyone standing around pointing various weapons at the empty spot in front of me an empty field. What had happened while I was talking to that guy?!

"Kari-chan! Are you okay?!" Angel asked running over towards me. She still had her sword in her hand, "You were having a pretty heated battle with that ghost. It was like spitting toilet paper all over the place." She took a piece off of her sword to show me. It was like a thin sheet of metal, but looked exactly like real toilet paper. I sighed, what had the others seen during all of that?

"Yeah, I'm fine, Angel-chan." I paused, "How were the other ghosts?"

The 18 year old «Spriggan» a few feet away from Angel laughed, "They were okay. You got the boss, Kari-san. That one was a level 95 ghost." Kirito let the information sink in, before I sighed.

"What's a level 95 monster doing on «floor 88»?"

He shrugged, "Beats me. Maybe the challenge screws around with the floor a little bit more than just a new special boss."

We all nodded, it was definitely possible. "Guys, go get some sleep." I finally said, breaking the silence. "It's like 2 in the morning right now. I'll take first watch."

"Are you sure?" asked Angel. She looked at me with her worried chocolate brown eyes. I suddenly realized that she needed to know that I'd be fine. She already had too much on her mind; she was probably still worried about what was going on in the real world.

"I'm fine, Angel-chan. Stop being a worrywart. It's just not like you. Go get some sleep, okay?" She sighed and nodded. The group finally dispersed and started walking towards their respective tents.

I sat down next to the campfire and sighed, looking up at the beautiful night sky. I heard laughing in Kirito and Asuna's tent, and Yui squealing with delight. After a while, all the lamps went out in the tents. Everyone was asleep now.

Then I heard someone's tent open, I turned around and saw Kirito standing behind me. He laughed half-heartedly, "Couldn't sleep. I'm guessing it's the same with you, which is also why you took first watch."

I smiled, "Yeah, there are some things on my mind bothering me."

"Is it what happened during truth-or-dare?"

I could feel my face heating up as I remembered what happened a little less than an hour ago, "Uh, no."

He laughed, "Just kidding." He paused for a second then walked over and sat down next to me, "What do you think the boss is like?"

The sudden change of topic was surprising, but I was glad for it. I didn't really know if I wanted to explain to someone what was really worrying me. "Well, it's probably going to be hard to beat considering that it's not going to be the normal floor boss. To tell the truth, I'm worried about this so called 'Anniversary Challenge'. There have been some odd things happening ever since it's unveil."

"Yeah, but even though it says it isn't like the original «SAO», I still feel uneasy. I feel like we're trapped all over again…..you were in there, weren't you?"

I nodded half-heartedly. I knew what he meant; every single monster you battled in there could spell out your death if you weren't careful. To tell the truth, it wasn't all that different from my normal everyday life. Not that anyone besides me knew that, and I wasn't about to tell anyone just yet. I fingered the hilt of my sword, "This new blood loss thing going on, I don't know what to think of it. I feel like, I feel like we're losing more than just virtual blood."

"Virtual blood. I wonder who out there was crazy enough to come up with that idea."

"I could name quite a few." I said bitterly, "There are tons of people out there that want to take us down."

Kirito smiled, "Oh yeah, I forgot, your Dad owns a company doesn't he? He was the one that exposed that banana farm incident Angel-chan was talking about the other day."

I smiled, "Yeah that was funny. Anyways, why don't you go get some sleep, Kirito-san? We'll need your sword expertise tomorrow at the boss fight. If you really want to stay up, you can take next watch. Just get some sleep."

He grinned, "I can see why Angel-chan voted you commander of your guild, Kari-san. You're a good person to have around. Don't stay up past your watch 'kay?" He waved a good-bye and made his way back to his tent.

I sighed, if only the boss fight tomorrow and the new blood update all I had to worry about.

* * *

I awoke to the sound of my best friend Angel screaming in my ears. "Rise and shine, Kari-chan! Get up already! How many more buckets of ice cold water do I have to waste on you?" She was standing next to my sleeping bag in full gear. She had an empty bucket in her hand and was smirking. I reached out my hand and felt my hair, it was wet.

"Sorry," I said, sitting up. I quickly mumbled a spell and felt the water in my hair being extracted; I was left with a ball of water floating atop my hand. I dropped it into the bucket Angel was carrying.

"Did you stay up past your watch last night?" she inquired accusingly.

"Kirito-san took over early. Anyways," I said as I scrolled through my inventory list, "we should get going soon." I quickly equipped my gear and ran my hand through my hair. "What's for breakfast, Angel-chan? You helped Asuna-san prepare the meal, didn't you?"

"Just help me get the supplies together. You can eat breakfast afterwards, it's still cooking."

"Whatever," I said as I started taking down the tent. After about ten minutes, we were ready. We quickly went through an amazing virtual breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and headed out.

We made our way through the grassy fields and found our way to the boss entrance. It was blocked with heavy wooden doors. Asuna went up and pushed it open and we stepped into the elegant throne room. At the end of the red carpet and atop the stairs sat a throne, and on it sat none other than my favorite vampire. He smiled when he saw me and gestured for me to step forward. I ignored him.

"Welcome, why don't I introduce you to my friend here who's the real special boss?" He said with a smile and stepped aside in a gracious manner. On the throne sat a young girl who had long silver hair pinned back with two bobby pins. Her calculating pale lavender eyes told me all I needed to know about her. She had 10 «HP Gauges» above her head and her name read «Valeria».

She smiled snidely and stood up, "I've heard a ton about your little group here. I can't wait to drink the blood of your group's victims, Hikari." The boy smiled at me, waved good-bye, and disappeared into the darkness behind the girl's throne. I groaned; this was going to get messy.

**Kari: I hope you guys liked the chapter! If you guys want to find out more about my OC Hikari's backstory, please go check out Water's Light! Thanks for all of your continued support! Please review!**

**Angel: Thank you for all of your continued support! Please continue to support us. You guys have no idea what that does to my ego. It does wonders.**


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